butter up
(tr, adverb) to flatter
Words Nearby butter up
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
How to use butter up in a sentence
Ye see she's dependent on Jeames, so she has to butter up at 'im.
A Window in Thrums | J. M. BarrieThereput them in that cupboard, and set the butter up here, and put the bread in this box, do you see?
The Wide, Wide World | Susan WarnerI say so myself; and butter up my vanity with all the stimulating compliments I can think of.
The Letters of Robert Burns | Robert BurnsHe says it when he wants to let himself go and simply butter up a thing.
Mike | P. G. WodehouseYou may draw the butter up out of the well, presently, when breakfast is quite ready.
Mildred Keith | Martha Finley
Other Idioms and Phrases with butter up
Excessively praise or flatter someone, usually to gain a favor. For example, If you butter up Dad, he'll let you borrow the car. This term transfers the oily, unctuous quality of butter to lavish praise. [c. 1700]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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